Team Strange
Team Strange, also referred to as the "Odd Squad",' '''is a team of superheroes that have supernatural, paranormal, or mystical origin that are outcasts of normal society, even including other heroes. They are free agents that have a relationship with the Department of Superhuman Affairs' Paranormal Division, a classified government entity, at one point involving Jack Harrow, that investigates the alien and unexplained. Team Strange is tasked with defeating evil that defies ordinary human comprehension, and employs elements of classic horror and sci-fi movies, and crime noir. Origin The origin story of Team Strange begins in [[Night Visions|''Night Visions]], with the "Paranormal Inactivity" arc, taking place after the supposed death of the West Heights Ripper. Likely the oldest hero alive, Grim Fang is a centuries old vampire (with vampirism regarded now as one of the first Alterations) who feels out of place in the modern age after awaking from a hundred year sleep. Following the Omega Awakening, as mutations and abilities of all kinds are becoming more common, Grim Fang finds that there are others like him. Around the same time, after a nationwide string of murders perpetuated by children who appear to have no memory of it afterwards, the DSA forms the Paranormal Division, enlisting experts of varying fields, special agents, and even some heroes to respond to this and other events of its type. In the recruitment process, the acting director of the Paranormal Division, Rob Sloan, arrives in Zone 13 to visit Jack Harrow, showing up at his apartment. Taking paid time off and still obsessed with his mistakes during his "game" with the West Heights Ripper, Harrow initially wants nothing to do with it, and forces Sloan to leave, though accepting his phone number. That night, Harrow visits his daughter's grave, and for the first time it is revealed that her death, discussed only vaguely as a suicide, may actually have had a supernatural cause. He remembers the event in vivid detail, finding his daughter levitating in her room with her limbs bent at impossible angles. He can't come close to her without being pushed back by an invisible energy. In a brief moment of lucidity, his daughter begs him to kill her to end her suffering, but he can't, falling to his knees. He then watches helplessly as she takes her own life, smashing a vase and slitting her throat. As whatever is controlling her attempts to prevent her death by forcing her to grip her throat, Harrow peels back her arms in tears to allow her to die. Sloan's next prospective recruit is Grim Fang. He, along with another new recruit, Homunculus, arrives at Grim Fang's castle on a stormy night, pulling slowly up the winding way. He knocks on the door but there's no answer. Suddenly, during a flash of lightning, Grim appears behind him, spooking him, but letting him inside. Sloan explains that, as a paranormal expert, he obsessively keeps up with alleged sightings and urban legends, as more of them are true than people would like to imagine. There were a few news reports about people who claimed to have seen a pale figure in the windows or on the turrets of the abandoned castle. Grim is adamant about his unwillingness to assimilate with humans, until Sloan mentions the nature of the case. The murders, particularly the role of the children in them, reminds him of something he had witnessed nearly 300 years prior. He accepts, offering the use of his castle as their headquarters. Harrow contacts Sloan to tell him that he's in, with the requirement that the Division help him find out what happened to his daughter. Sloan agrees, and Harrow is given the coordinates of the meeting place. When he arrives, they discuss what Grim remembers about the similar events hundreds of years ago. He says the people attributed them to a myth about a ghost that would poison the minds of children and force them to perceive their loved ones as their worst nightmares, driving them to violence. At the time, all of the children who did so were burned at the stake as demons and witches, but he recalls a witch coven that rescued some of them. The rest of the team is skeptical that his contact is still alive, but Grim assures them she is. They go to visit Esmeralda Greymane, a witch that was a young woman at the time and is still alive, nearly three hundred years old but still appearing as her old self thanks to some magic. She remembers the events as well, and says that she even has in her coven one of the victims, a teenage girl who was severely burned and rendered mute by the retribution of her fellow villagers. The black magic that saved her life and suspends her in the age at which she was burned is also her main tool in combat, one of Esmeralda's greatest apprentices. Determined to exact revenge on who or whatever caused her suffering, she joins them. She attempts to recall the events leading up to her being manipulated into killing her parents, but is unable. Instead, Harrow urges her to reminisce about her childhood in general. As she rambles on, she eventually mentions a doll that she found in the street one day, and that sparks a memory, a nightmare she remembers having at the time she was committing the murders. It reminds Harrow of an auction he heard about recently in which an ancient doll worth nearly $1,000,000 was sold. They trace the buyer to Zone 1, specifically a penthouse apartment owned by him. When they arrive, they find him dead with a man with red skin and horns standing over him. When he sees them, he shoots a fireball at them and smashes through the window, jumping onto a lower awning. As Harrow and Sloan rush toward the stairwell, Homunculus, Witch, and Grim jump out the window as well. Homunculus lands with a crash on the awning, causing it to crumble. The red man jumps off nimbly while Homunculus falls to a lower level. Grim sprouts wings and swoops toward him but he dodges, countering at nearly point blank with a blast of fire that slams Grim into a wall. As he leaps away, he is struck by a bolt of black magical energy fired by Witch, levitating above him. He throws a few fireballs back but she blocks them with magical wards. Meanwhile, Sloan and Harrow come out onto a ledge beneath the red man, who doesn't notice them while occupied with Witch. The impact from one of Witch's strikes breaks off part of the ledge, separating Sloan from Harrow. Harrow gets close enough to take a shot, but suddenly his vision gets blurry and his heart starts racing. He collapses as he pulls the trigger, wildly missing but distracting the red man long enough for Witch to land a hit. He lands in the street below, now taking on Homunculus. Surprisingly, he grows larger, tearing his clothes and becoming more beast-like in appearance. He punches Homunculus square in the face, sending him flying two blocks. He brushes off a strike from Witch, grabbing her by the throat. Sloan leaps from the ledge, latching on to his back and plunging a tranquilizer into his neck. The red beast shakes him off and, realizing what's happening to him, attempts to escape, bounding off into the distance. However, a few miles away he finally succumbs to the tranquilizer, reverting back to his original self and free-falling towards the street, only to be snatched out of the air by Grim Fang. When he wakes, he reveals that he didn't kill the buyer, but rather was his neighbor, owning the adjacent penthouse, and came to inspect the commotion, finding his door smashed open and his neighbor dead. They ask about the doll and he says that he remembers the day he came home with it, thinking it was creepy. He guesses that it's in his secret safe, which he habitually cracked open after a few drinks to show off his absurd but expensive possessions. He also explains that his name is Lucius Primrose, son of the billionaire Alistor Primrose and a succubus, making him half-demon, which explains his skin tone and horns. However, thanks to his fortune, his bizarre appearance hasn't really affected him. They find the safe wrenched open and only the doll missing. Unable to find the actual doll, they figure the next best thing is to find someone who can at least tell them about it. They track down the antique society that donated the items to the auctions, meeting its accountant, a nervous but knowledgeable man named Harold Smithe. He says he doesn't know much about the doll off the top of his head, but that they keep records of all the items in they're possession, along with any information about them they can find. While Grim, Sloan, Harrow, and Witch go with Smithe to inspect the file, Homunculus and Lucius explore the warehouse of items, gawking at the strange and exotic items, nearly breaking some of them. Smithe pulls out the file, but pretends to drop it in order to hide something in it, an act that goes unnoticed by all except for Harrow, who decides to not say anything yet. The file indicates that the doll was made by a famous doll-maker in the year 1790, roughly ten years before the original string of murders, and had been in the possession of an anonymous benefactor before its donation. Lucius, using his demonic charisma, convinces a guard that the two of them are benefactors who wanted to see the item they donated one last time before it's auctioned off, and he lets them into a restricted back area of the warehouse. What they find is shocking - famous stolen art pieces, the pelts of extinct and endangered species, etc. In the very back they find a large, mechanical cube with a keypad on the front face. Lucius tries to crack the code but fails, prompting Homunculus to suggest they just "turn it off", punching the fuse box and knocking out power to the whole building. When the power shuts off, Harrow lunges forward and grabs Smithe, who is able to fight him off in the darkness and run out. Knowing the layout of the building, he evades Harrow but is caught by Grim. The cube enters an emergency mode, with an automated voice saying something about needing to restore power to the lights inside. With a hiss of steam, it opens and they find a pale green and brown man with twigs and branches growing out of his body asleep inside, with large floodlights lining the inside of the cube. The guard realizes he's been tricked and rushes in, but is apprehended by Homunculus. Threatened by Lucius who heats up his palm and threatens to brand his face, the guard explains that the "item" is one of the last surviving dryads, creatures with a bond to nature that are nearly extinct due to the value of the wood their bodies produce and rampant deforestation. As he asks to wake him up, he conveniently wakes up, but mistakes all of them for enemies and wraps them all up in vines. Lucius doesn't struggle and tells Homunculus to calm down, knowing he can break free and will exacerbate the situation. He explains that he's freeing him and he releases them, but then clarifies that the guard was keeping him captive and he covers him with poison ivy. They regroup with the rest of the team who have Smithe captured. Lucius provides some light as Harrow searches his pockets for the item that he removed from the file. It's a flash drive containing research about the doll and articles about nearly hundreds of crimes that seem to be linked to it. Smithe explains that his boss told him to protect that information at all costs. He then sees the dryad and realizes they found the back room, too, and reveals that their organization is a front for a smuggling ring that deals in rare and illegal valuables. They tie up everybody there and call the police before leaving, responding to an ongoing murder scene matching the description of the others. However, it's in Zone 13, and they'd never make it in time. Witch expends all of her energy to teleport them there, rushing inside. It's a horrendous scene, the worst yet, with the parents of four killed before the children turned on each other. One of them survived, but is in critical condition. Sloan and Harrow go inside to investigate while Grim and Witch watch from above, and Lucius, Homunculus, and Mandrake stand outside. Horrifyingly, the dead children and parents laying in the house seem to come back to life, but are mindless killers, attacking Sloan and Harrow. They try to fend them off without harming them, but eventually have no choice, shooting them until they stop getting back up. This doesn't bode well for their image - it appeared that they had gone mad at the crime scene, ruining evidence. They are arrested while the superhumans flee. Witch senses an odd, familiar energy and is drawn to it. Grim follows her. She goes to a park near to the crime scene, where a man in a trench-coat and a wide-brimmed hat is sitting. She sits beside him and turns to him and says, "Father?" in disbelief. The man turns to her and grins before a magical portal opens and swallows them both, closing before Grim can get there. Lucius, Homunculus, and Mandrake evade capture thanks to Mandrake's powers, obscuring themselves perfectly with foliage. They escape into the sewer. Grim, not sure what to do now, watches the city from a rooftop, still in awe of the modern age. He is confronted by none other than Crimson Cloak, who asks him about his involvement with the murder scene. After explaining that they are investigating the events, Crimson Cloak says that the murders have been on his radar, but this is the first in Zone 13. Even so, he has collected meticulous records on the murders, the doll, and any rumors and legends surrounding it, offering to share what he knows. Grim accepts, but says he has partners that were wrongfully arrested that they have to help, but when he mentions that one of them is Jack Harrow, Cloak says to leave it be and, "He'll figure it out." Harrow persuades the beat cop driving the squad car to radio the station and tell them who he is. He reluctantly does so, and receives orders to let them go. However, the car is blocked by several black SUV's. Several thugs in black suits emerge, immediately shooting and killing the officer before approaching the car and taking Sloan and Harrow out. They are ushered into one of the SUV's, meeting the boss of the society that they busted earlier, who demands the return of the dryad. When they truthfully tell him that they don't know where he is, he takes them to their base to torture the information out of them. Meanwhile, Lucius, Homunculus and Mandrake trudge through the sewers, trying to find an exit near the edge of the city so they can escape. They arrive at a large intersection of tunnels, encountering Murk, a creature made from a viscous substance that changes depending on what he's touching. He attacks them at first, but Mandrake creates a beautiful tree that reminds him of the swamp, his home, calming him down. His body has trapped all kinds of debris in the sewer, but one surprising piece - the doll they were searching for. Crimson Cloak and Grim arrive at his hideout, pulling up data about the doll on the screen. Legend has it that the doll is possessed by the spirit of a child murdered by his parents that tempts other children to do the same, and that whoever is in possession of the doll when the murders are committed, their lives are extended. Having found the doll, Lucius tries to send a coded message to Harrow, who is able to respond, in code as well, before his phone is taken and smashed by his captors. Knowing they are in the sewers and that the warehouse they have been taken to is in the Industrial District, the sewers nearby will contain traces of oil and other industrial waste. The message: "Big oil". Unfortunately, none of them know the geography of Zone 13, with Lucius having never set foot here before, Homunculus with the knowledge of the child he was created from, and Mandrake having never even seen a city before. Luckily, Murk, who loves noxious smells, knows what he means, taking them to where he smells oil. The come out of the manhole into the Industrial District. Murk gives them the doll but says he wants to stay in the sewers. They start looking into windows, Mandrake producing eyes on the end of several spindly branches to do it faster, spotting Sloan and Harrow in a warehouse, though the windows are boarded. Homunculus, holding thde of the wharf, is attacked by Warlock, a crazed vagrant who is naturally talented in black magic and uses it in his life as a petty thief and pickpocket.has an eye for the valuable, and noticed the doll. They face off, and Warlock is able to snatch the doll.